A magnetic-resonance technique has been used to make an accurate measurement of the $g_J$ values of the $5d{\left[\frac{7}{2}\right]}_4$, $5d{\left[\frac{7}{2}\right]}_3$, and $5d{\left[\frac{3}{2}\right]}_2$ states in xenon and of the hyperfine structure of the $5d{\left[\frac{7}{2}\right]}_4$ state in ${}_{}{}^{129}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Xe}$. The $5d$ states are excited and aligned by unidirectional electron impact in a hot-cathode discharge tube containing Xe at a pressure of about 5 × ${10}^{-3\mathrm{}}$ Torr. Induced transitions between magnetic sublevels of the aligned $5d$ state are detected by monitoring the intensity of linearly polarized light emitted during the second step in the cascade $5d\to 6p\to 6s$. The $g_J$ values were measured by determining the Zeeman transition frequency of a particular $5d$ state in a magnetic field of about 20 G which had been locked to the Zeeman resonance in the $6s{\left[\frac{3}{2}\right]}_2$ metastable state. The results are $g_J=1.2506\mathrm{}\left(3\right)\mathrm{}$ for $5d{\left[\frac{7}{2}\right]}_4$, $g_J=1.0749\mathrm{}\left(4\right)\mathrm{}$ for $5d{\left[\frac{7}{2}\right]}_3$, and $g_J=1.3750\mathrm{}\left(3\right)\mathrm{}$ for $5d{\left[\frac{3}{2}\right]}_2$. The hyperfine structure was measured by placing the tube in a T${\mathrm{E}}_{102}$ microwave cavity and observing direct ($\Delta F=1\mathrm{}$) hyperfine transitions in a magnetic field of a few gauss. The result for ${}_{}{}^{129}{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{Xe}$ in the $5d{\left[\frac{7}{2}\right]}_4$ state is $a=-583.571\mathrm{}\left(2\right)\mathrm{}$ MHz. The error for both the $g_J$ values and the hyperfine structure arises from the magnetic field measurement and corresponds to about one-tenth of the linewidth. Our results are improvements of previous optical measurements.

• Received 4 October 1971

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.5.550